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Local embeddedness, upgrading, and skill development: Global value chains and foreign direct investment in Lesotho's apparel industry

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  • Staritz, Cornelia
  • Morris, Mike

Abstract

Many low-income countries (LICs) are integrated into apparel global value chains (GVCs) through foreign direct investment (FDI). This is also the case in Lesotho that has developed to the largest Sub-Sahara African (SSA) apparel exporter to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). More recently, a new apparel export market has emerged in Lesotho the regional market of South Africa. The two export markets US and South Africa are supplied by different types of FDI firms affiliates of largely Taiwanese transnational producers and South African manufacturers that are incorporated into distinct value chains. This paper assesses the implications for upgrading of integration into these two value chains in Lesotho - the value chain characterized by Taiwanese investment and feeding into the US market under AGOA and the value chain characterized by South African investment and feeding into the South African market. These value chains differ with regard to ownership patterns, end markets, export products, governance structures and firm set up, investors motivations, and perceptions on main challenges. These different characteristics have crucial impacts on upgrading possibilities, including functional, process and "local" upgrading. Thus, from the perspective of upgrading and sustainability, ownership patterns, local embeddedness and market diversification matter. The emergence of South Africa as an alternative end market and the different value chain dynamics operating in the South African retailer-governed value chain open up new opportunities from those of the AGOA/Taiwanese-dominated value chain.

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  • Staritz, Cornelia & Morris, Mike, 2012. "Local embeddedness, upgrading, and skill development: Global value chains and foreign direct investment in Lesotho's apparel industry," Working Papers 32, Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:oefsew:32
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    Cited by:

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    2. Giovanni Pasquali & Shane Godfrey, 2022. "Governance of Eswatini Apparel Regional Value Chains and the Implications of Covid-19," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(1), pages 473-502, February.
    3. NJ Matsoma & IM Ambe, 2016. "Factors Affecting Demand Planning in the South African Clothing Industry," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 8(5), pages 194-210.
    4. Anja Slany, 2019. "The Role of Trade Policies in Building Regional Value Chains – Some Preliminary Evidence From Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 87(3), pages 326-353, September.
    5. Morris, Mike & Staritz, Cornelia, 2014. "Industrialization Trajectories in Madagascar’s Export Apparel Industry: Ownership, Embeddedness, Markets, and Upgrading," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 243-257.
    6. Linda Calabrese & Neil Balchin, 2022. "Foreign Investment and Upgrading in the Garment Sector in Africa and Asia," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(S1), pages 34-44, April.
    7. Shengjun Zhu & Canfei He, 2018. "Upgrading in China’s apparel industry: international trade, local clusters and institutional contexts," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(2), pages 193-215, March.
    8. Cornelia Staritz & Mike Morris, 2013. "Local embeddedness and economic and social upgrading in Madagascar’s export apparel industry," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series ctg-2013-21, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    9. Österreichische Forschungsstiftung für Internationale Entwicklung (ÖFSE) (ed.), 2013. "Österreichische Entwicklungspolitik 2013. Private Sector Development: Ein neuer Businessplan für Entwicklung?," Austrian Development Policy Report, Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE), number 268192.
    10. Yanhua Chen & Suqiong Wei & Hongou Zhang & Yuehua Gao, 2019. "Spatiotemporal Evolution of the Taiwanese-Funded Information Technology and Electronics Industry Value Chain in Mainland China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-18, June.
    11. John Pickles, 2012. "South African horticulture: opportunities and challenges for economic and social upgrading in value chains," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series ctg-2012-13, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    12. Mike Morris & Leonhard Plank & Cornelia Staritz, 2016. "Regionalism, end markets and ownership matter: Shifting dynamics in the apparel export industry in Sub Saharan Africa," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(7), pages 1244-1265, July.
    13. Giovanni Pasquali & Shane Godfrey & Khalid Nadvi, 2021. "Understanding regional value chains through the interaction of public and private governance: Insights from Southern Africa’s apparel sector," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(3), pages 368-389, September.
    14. Thomas Bernhardt, 2013. "Developing countries in the global apparel value chain: a tale of upgrading and downgrading experiences," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series ctg-2013-22, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    15. Thomas Farole & Deborah Winkler, 2014. "Making Foreign Direct Investment Work for Sub-Saharan Africa : Local Spillovers and Competitiveness in Global Value Chains," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 16390.
    16. Dev Nathan & Sandip Sarkar, 2014. "Global Inequality, Rising Powers, and Labour Standards," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 278-295, June.

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